Dine and Dash AU, Jily
by kella923
Summary: this comes from an ask i got on my tumblr! "You dined and dashed in my restaurant but you left your coat behind au prompt for Jily please! :)"


Lily's shift was almost over- she was so thankful that she had found this job in London, seeing that almost nobody wanted to hire a teenager who was only available for three-and-a-half months in the summer. She couldn't commit to them, they couldn't commit to her, but the Leaky Tankard had. The small Irish pub tucked away in an underground piece of property that nobody talked about but everyone knew. It was almost 11pm, and she had been working since noon, and she really needed to sleep… Her day off was tomorrow, and she planned on having some much-needed down time with Mary and Alice. As it stood, she only had one customer left (some young man eating by himself over in the corner table- she hadn't really gotten a look at his face, but she had delivered him some steak and potatoes and a whiskey. More than one whiskey. Once he left, she was free to punch her timecard and haul herself back to her bed.

Moving swiftly around the dining area, clearing plates from the other waitstaff's tables (they had decided to take a collective smoking break out back, and she was determined to prove that she could perform this job better than they could), she glanced over her shoulder at her corner table. Which was empty. Lovely, the man couldn't have waited to go home before he needed to use the loo? The clock over the bar read 10:58 and she needed to go home. Sidling up to Charlie, the bar man, she asked if he would be ever so kind as to check the men's for a strange young man who looked like he'd just put three whiskeys in him. Charlie blushed and did so, returning to report that there was no one in the men's, nor anyone in the hallway.

Damn it! Her last customer had left, after racking up $30 in dinner and alcohol. That would come out of her check, there was no doubt… Whatever. Sighing, Lily went over to his table, clearing up his empty glasses and balancing his plates on her hip. Oh, what the hell, the bloke had left his jacket behind, strewn over the other chair like he couldn't care less about it. She could see why, it was torn and dirty and looked like it should be tossed in the charity bin. Maybe she could catch up to him and give it back, as she wasn't even energetic enough to be mad at him for leaving her stranded. Dumping the glasses and plates in the kitchen, she punched her timecard and ran out the door, hoping that he hadn't gone that far.

It was raining that night, and Lily pulled the good of her raincoat tightly around her. The light was bad, but as she came up onto the main road she noticed someone hunched under the awning of a closed boutique, shivering and wet.

"Sir, did you happen to be at the Leaky Tankard today? Possibly leaving without a check and noticeably without a jacket?"

The man looked up as she drew closer, offering the garment in front of her as if it was a peace offering. She entered his space and found herself looking into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They were attached to a pretty fit face, as well, come to think of it.

"Oh, yeah, I did do that, didn't I?" he said, recognition in his eyes as he looked at the young woman who would have really appreciated a tip tonight, not to mention keeping that $30 in her paycheck.

"I'm really sorry about that, I didn't have quite enough money and I didn't realize how much I'd drank, and I figured I could just slip out and you wouldn't notice… I can't go home $50 out, you know?"

Lily laughed. He was either incredibly bad at maths or just tipsy enough not to realize that each whiskey was $7 and the dinner was only $10.

"Your total was only $31, you tosser! You could have asked, I would have paid for a whiskey myself! But now I'm going to be paying that bill out of my tips and I didn't get a tip, either."

"I'm sorry, it's been a really bad night… Friends going through some crises, issues at home, now this… I'm sorry."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not right now, but I'd like my jacket back… Thanks. It's my mate's, really, but I borrows it and never gave it back."

"We can talk about it tomorrow, maybe. It's my day off." It was 11:07pm on a June night and Lily Evans was feeling bold. "I'm going to the park with some girlfriends tomorrow, maybe you can come and bring your friends."

"Oh I could, could I? And does my red-headed garment-rescuer have a name? I like to know at least one piece of information about people before I introduce them to my friends."

"You already know where I work. That's one."

"Two pieces, then."

"It's Lily. Call me Ginge, I'm used to it. See you and your mates tomorrow?"

"James. But you can call me Potter until I decide I like you. Yes."

"James."

"Lily."


End file.
